A Paramount man accused of punching a police officer during a melee at Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance said Tuesday he acted in self-defense after the policeman grabbed him, cursed him and called him a racial epithet.

DeAndre Lamar Long, 20, said he was not looking for trouble when he and his two sisters went to see “The Unborn” at the Del Amo 18 theaters Saturday night, but ended up zapped with a Taser gun and beaten with fists and batons during the brawl that erupted with police.

Long said he had no idea that the man who initially grabbed him from behind was a police officer. He declined to say whether he hit the officer because charges are pending.

“If somebody was grabbed from behind, anybody would self-defend himself,” Long said. “It’s just out of instincts. That’s all it was – instincts. I would never hit an officer. I want to be a cop.”

Long was among four men, two women and two teenage boys arrested during the donnybrook that ignited in the mall’s outdoor lifestyle wing when two women began fighting over clothing. About 30 police officers from several South Bay police departments responded, and about 500 people were forced to evacuate until order was restored.

The Torrance City Prosecutor’s Office filed misdemeanor charges, including battery and obstructing a police officer, against five of the suspects on Monday.

Long, who said he works two security guard jobs, faces a potential felony charge because police allege he punched a police officer.

Long is free on bail as prosecutors at the District Attorney’s Office review the case.

Long said he frequently goes to the Del Amo mall to shop and see movies. When he and his 18- and 19-year-old sisters arrived Saturday evening, they found several friends who also had gone to Del Amo.

Long said he was standing with one of his sisters when a mall security officer or police officer – he’s not sure which – bumped into them.

“I said, `Watch where you are going, big guy,”‘ Long said. “The officer said, `Who are you talking to, mother——?’ My sister said, `I didn’t know they taught you to say mother—— in the (police) academy.”‘

Nothing else happened for about 15 minutes when the two women began fighting, he said. Long said he was about 30 yards away from them, had no connection to what was happening and did not know the women.

Long said he turned to look for one of his sisters, who had separated from him and felt someone grab him from behind.

“He never identified himself as an officer,” Long said. “He kept saying, `Oh, what the f— (do you think) you was doing, mother——.’ I didn’t know that was an officer behind me.”

Long would not say exactly how he responded. But he said he did not believe whoever grabbed him was a police officer because of the language he used.

“I didn’t know that was a cop. He didn’t act as if he was a cop,” Long said.

At least four, possibly as many as seven officers, beat him from behind, he said.

Long, who is black, said he did not know they were officers until he was being handcuffed on the ground. One of them, he said, called him a racial epithet.

“Once I realized they were cops, I became obedient,” he said. “I didn’t know that was a cop. I was just defending myself. I was scared. I was looking for my sister. I didn’t want to be in no altercation. I’m too old for that.”

Long said the fight escalated because other people who knew him tried to come to his aid.

Long said he had bruises and cuts on his face, two split lips, a chipped tooth and marks on his back from the Taser.

In the hospital, he said, police officers threatened to beat him when it was time to go to jail, but a nurse stepped in.

“I ain’t a bad dude,” Long said. “The racism they were voicing, that hurt me. I never would look at a cop and prejudge him.

“I’m telling you the honest truth. I’m no liar. I go to church.”

Torrance police Sgt. Bernard Anderson said the department had no comment on Long’s statements.

“We have an ongoing investigation that’s in the hands of the D.A. or the city prosecutor,” he said.

Larry Altman has covered crime and court proceedings in Southern California since 1987. A graduate of Cal State Northridge, where he served as editor of the college newspaper, Altman has worked for the Daily Breeze since 1990. The Society of Professional Journalists named him a "Distinguished Journalist" in Los Angeles in 2006. Altman's work was featured twice on CBS' “48 Hours” and he appeared eight times with “Nancy Grace," who called him "dear." He has covered hundreds of homicides and many trials. Altman has crawled through a mausoleum to open a coffin, confronted husbands who killed their wives, wives who killed their husbands, and his coverage helped put a child molester and a murderer in prison. In his spare time, Altman is an avid Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers fan, is the commissioner of a Fantasy Baseball league with several other current and former newspapermen, runs a real estate empire and likes to watch old movies on TCM.